Leopard wrote:HOW TO MAKE HOT STAMPSby ZAM Great stamps make great events more memorable, and sweet discs even sweeter.

The average stamp kinda sucks, and we can change that.Your software is like your bag, and you should know it inside and out, so that you can execute any idea or direction without technical hurdles. The actual production should never seem like a technical exercise.

To see stuff I've done, check out my gallery at ZAMdesign.comThe collection there is only 14 months out of date

This is the best thing I've read someone say in a long time.Well said Leo pard.

The visual connection beyond the normal stamp is where an addict of art on plastic is born.

Leopard wrote:And the current list of DGRtists ready and willing to rock your project is:

Jesse B 707MarauderMarmosetTed Damson

Anyone feel free to PM me for your name to be edited into the list. (Fritz, c'mon you got free time )

Designers are welcome to add tips/tricks/ideas here as well Links to portfolios or showoff threads, etc too!

Haven't been on here in a while but this was an EXTREMELY helpful post. Thanks for all the info. I appreciate the plug!! After I get some solid DG artwork in the books, then I'll make a part of my site dedicated to that side of things.

All I can say is kudos to you, leopard. I 've been a graphic/production artist for 15 years and if graphic artists of the world would heed your advice on file prep it would have saved me lots of grey hair. Nothing like getting a GIF from a customer who wants to make it into a 10 foot banner. I know thats extreme, but it happens. crap in crap out i always say.

by the by, I've always loved your designs for HOTT. Very slick and clean!

thanks man! yeah, it doesn't take more than one super frustrating submission from someone to make you appreciate the importance of a proper file.

that said, it took me a solid year of submitting stamps to innova before i wasn't sending them error-prone junk. haha in fact... evidence here... on every Polaris stamp since 2006, the pinstripes are missing from the arrow, and it's because i had them in a clipping mask (not outlined). oops

thanks for the kind words on my HOTT stuff. i gotta give lots of credit to my clients, Mitch & Patty of Team Justice. they give me complete freedom to do whatever i like... they often give me a few words, or some memory from the event/course, and let me run with it. i don't think they understand what great people they are to work for, and how much it benefits the quality of the work i'm able to do for them.

On the 3rd stamp, watch out with a font that thin (at its thinnest) surrounded by heavy black. A small area of white surrounded by black will want to fill in. If DC or Gateway stamped that, it'd probably fill in but still be legible.